Features – Page 2 – Dustin Monke

Cutbacks in the Bakken: Baker Hughes layoff of 117 employees biggest signal yet of slowdown

Baker Hughes' Dickinson facility. — Baker Hughes’ Dickinson facility.

Falling oil prices and the resulting oil drilling slowdown in the Bakken Oil Patch has led one of the world’s largest oilfield services companies to make major cutbacks at its Dickinson office.

Baker Hughes sent a letter of notice to Dickinson Mayor Dennis Johnson on Wednesday, stating it was permanently terminating 117 employees here — most of them field operators and specialists.

In the letter, Baker Hughes stated that falling oil prices “have negatively impacted the market and reduced the overall need for the services provided by Baker Hughes.”

The Work Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires companies that plan to terminate more than 100 employees alert area and state workforce services, as well as the mayor of the city where the layoffs occur. Baker Hughes did not release how many workers it still employs at its Dickinson office.

Johnson said, in his 15 years as the city commission’s president, he cannot remember receiving a similar letter.

“Historically, at least for quite a while, there haven’t been any layoffs of that magnitude,” he said.

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The $3.8 million question: As the DSU Foundation heads toward dissolution, how will the remainder of the Biesiot Activities Center’s loan be paid?

Fans sit in the stands during Dickinson Trinity’s football game against Kindred on Friday afternoon at the Henry Biesiot Activities Center in Dickinson. The DSU Foundation, which had been paying the loans on the stadium, is headed toward dissolution after being in fi nancial receivership for nine months. Soon, Southwest District Judge William Herauf will likley be the one to decide how the remaining loan of $3.8 million on the stadium will be paid if the foundation cannot.

A Dickinson judge will decide who takes control of the Henry Biesiot Activities Center’s outstanding loan payments when the Dickinson State University Foundation enters dissolution proceedings in Southwest District Court.

The foundation has more than $3.8 million left to pay on the stadium and events center on DSU’s campus and recently defaulted on its most recent semi-annual loan obligation by paying just 38 percent of the required amount.

Sean Smith, the attorney appointed last December as the foundation’s financial receiver, said he can’t say how or if the foundation has the funds to pay off the BAC’s outstanding loans.

“That’ll all be up to the judge to decide,” Smith said. “There are statutory priorities, and I don’t know what’s going to happen so I can’t comment on those. But ultimately it’ll be up to the judge, the facts and circumstances that are in front of him.”

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Aaron Tippin, a country music great, arrives Thursday night for unplugged session during Alive @ 5

Submitted Photo Aaron Tippin, singer of “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly,” poses with his signature American flag guitar. — Submitted Photo
Aaron Tippin, singer of “Where the Stars and Stripes and the Eagle Fly,” poses with his signature American flag guitar.

Aaron Tippin is different than most country music stars. He spent much of past week relaxing in a northern California campground not far from the Pacific Ocean with his band and tour members. At night, they’d grill food and spend time hanging out by a campfi re.

“That’s exactly what I like,” he said.

The 57-year-old, who is in his 25th year as an entertainer, will be in Dickinson to perform Thursday night in what is being billed as a mostly “unplugged” session at the Alive @ 5 downtown street fair.

One of the biggest country music stars of the 1990s, Tippin has been performing off-and-on with the Roots and Boots Tour alongside Joe Diffi e and Sammy Kershaw, two of his ’90s country contemporaries. He was also recently involved in some large-venue concerts alongside Keith Urban and Hunter Hayes.

However, the chart-topping singer-songwriter said he has always enjoyed performing in front of smalltown crowds. In fact, he even makes his home in a middle Tennessee hamlet of less than 200 people on the far outskirts of Nashville.

“There’s nothing like being able to sit and stare right into their eyes with a guitar and just play a song,” he said Wednesday during a phone interview.
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Hike with Mike: Actor Michael J. Fox joins Parkinson’s fundraiser trip up White Butte

Submitted Photo by Roxee Jones Actor Michael J. Fox, middle, walks with Denise Lutz of New England, left, and Sam Fox, who is bicycling throughout the country raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation while also climbing the highest peak in every state, walk toward White Butte near Amidon on Sunday afternoon. — Submitted Photo by Roxee Jones
Actor Michael J. Fox, middle, walks with Denise Lutz of New England, left, and Sam Fox, who is bicycling throughout the country raising money for the Michael J. Fox Foundation while also climbing the highest peak in every state, walk toward White Butte near Amidon on Sunday afternoon.

AMIDON — Roxee Jones drove from Dickinson to White Butte in rural Slope County on Sunday morning expecting a quick hike up North Dakota’s highest point.

The Grand Forks woman never thought she’d spend time with a famous actor who is the face of a cause near to her heart.

Actor Michael J. Fox fl ew into southwest North Dakota on Sunday to join Sam Fox, the Michael J. Fox Foundation’s outreach and engagement offi cer who is making a threemonth journey across the United States to raise money for Parkinson’s disease research.

Jones said the actor actually led the hike up the butte, which is 3,507 feet above sea level.

“It was just an awesome experience — overwhelming that he showed up there,” said Jones, who teaches Parkinson’s wellness classes at the Grand Forks YMCA and whose father, Donald Lutz of Dickinson, lives with the disease.

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Bringing back Bailey: Couple reunites with lost golden retriever 2 months after she went missing in Oil Patch

Luke Rodenbough, of Blaisdell, and Staci Moore, of Dickinson, sit with their dog, 13-month-old golden retriever Bailey, on the steps outside of their Dickinson apartment building on Wednesday. They reunited with Bailey on Monday after the dog went missing Jan. 27 near Parshall. (Dustin Monke/The Dickinson Press)

Bailey can be a handful.

A loveable, smiling and prancing handful of soft, golden fur.

On Wednesday afternoon, the 13-month-old purebred golden retriever — still very much a puppy at heart — tore around a Dickinson apartment. She played with her toys, teased a cat and nuzzled up to whoever would pet her.

Bailey was happy. She was home.

It was a welcome and relieving sight for her owners, Luke Rodenbough, of Blaisdell, and his girlfriend, Staci Moore, of Dickinson.

A little more than two months ago, Rodenbough thought he had lost Bailey forever.

The dog he had raised, trained and loved since he got her last May as an 8-week-old pup disappeared Jan. 27 after he had taken her to a job site near Parshall.

“We just couldn’t find her,” he said.

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